Six decades of continuous production has made the Lotus Seven justly famous in Britain, but the car owes much to the pioneering model which directly preceded it. Evolving the stress-engineered formula that underpinned Chapman's earlier prototypes, the VI – Lotus’s first production car – arrived in 1952 as a lighter, stiffer and better handling machine in which drivers could compete in. It was a kit car, too, so it was cheap and customisable.
For budding hill climb, trial and road race competitors of the fifties, it was cutting-edge stuff. It used several off the shelf Ford components, primarily from the humble Prefect saloon, including the side valve (with a flat head) 1.2-litre engine. But the VI was based on a space frame chassis that was designed to be as light and rigid as possible using the latest engineering techniques.
On its own, the frame weighed just 25kg, and with aluminium bodywork and the accompanying hardware to make a VI, the whole car tipped the scales at just 432kg. That’s nearly 70kg less than the original Seven. It only had 50hp and 57lb ft of torque, but that lightness and a three-speed gearbox ensured that the car was quicker where it mattered than its rivals. Bear in mind that this was the fifties, though; we’re talking 15 seconds to 60mph and a 93mph top speed.
Speed is almost never the winning factor of a Lotus production car, though - agility almost always earns it acclaim. Indeed, Chapman’s famous quote goes: “Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere”. So the VI, despite being a very early proprietor of Chapman’s engineering philosophy, mixed its lightness with independent front and rigid real axle suspension. It was ultra nimble.
That it looked a step ahead of the era’s alternatives emphasised Lotus’s genius. The bodywork was streamlined and flush, the dashboard dials were neatly arranged and the car sat with naked purposefulness, avoiding the awkward positive camber that many rivals adopted. Success on the race track or timed stages seemed only natural. Lotus’s reputation was swiftly established and the follow ups, including the much more significant Seven, carried the brand deep into the second half of the 20th century.
Impressively, Chapman took the engineering lessons learned with these original open top models, and channeled them into proper road cars. The Elan was a perfect example, shunning the heavy ladder frame construction preferred by its rivals and deploying a compact X-shaped steel chassis and glass fibre body. The recipe for lightness, simplicity and the legend of Lotus’s chassis engineering was manifest. Thanks in no small part to the success of the Mark VI.
Only 110 VIs are reported to have been built, with many unsurprisingly not surviving much beyond the fifties and sixties due to the hard life lived by most competition cars. But thanks to their cheap maintenance costs and endless opportunity for modification, plenty remain in existence. Like today’s Spotted, a car restored in the eighties but still with an honest splattering of patina over its green and yellow paintwork.
Chassis number 51 has earned detailed tweaks in its long life, including the Elva overhead inlet valve conversion (which was popular with racers) and Ballamy wheels. The car is said to be so healthy that its seller even suggests it could be put back into competition. Or, indeed, simply driven to the pub. Either sounds good to us.
SPECIFICATION | LOTUS MARK VI
Engine: 1,172cc inline four
Transmission: 3-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 50@5,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 57@3,000rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
First registered: 1956
Recorded mileage: N/A
Price new: N/A
Yours for: £54,500
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